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HomeHomeOur CommunityOur CommunityGeneral Discuss...General Discuss...Revenue from commercial modules?Revenue from commercial modules?
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12/3/2009 1:27 PM
 

Maybe one of the commercial module developers can answer this question. If you have a pretty decent module costing around $40, how many copies are you selling a month? I am curious to know if DNN modules are worth the touble of development as a side 'hobby' business (not full time). I know it depends on how popular and good the module is. Let's say it's a top 30 on Snowcovered. What does this translate to in terms of number of copies? I am looking for a ballpark figure in terms of ranges just to have an idea. 1-10 or 10-20 or more than 20 or tens. If I sell 10 copies a month = $400, that's not too bad for a hobby business. This pays for a nice gadget every month :)

My wish is if I can translate SnowCovered's most popular modules into number of copies sold!

 

 

 
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12/3/2009 2:16 PM
 

Hi Tony,

IMHO - It's not easy. DNN development is a tricky beast - a small bug can take hours. I was unable to cope with the number of requests/support calls and demands from customers (customer management and expectation is critical).

My hot tip - IF you do decide to do this - pick a simple "utility" type module. Don't make the mistake that I did and pick "a social networking suite" to rival Facebooks ;) It's not possible for one person or a small team to develop such complex software, unless they have a few years to spare. It also has an infinite roadmap - not wise.

However, a small utility type module that has a small roadmap can be a moneyspinner. For example - I use DNNStuff's Aggregator mod all over the place. Richard only has to do a release a few times a year and there are few support calls (you could argue this is the quality of the product, and of course this is a factor), however simplicity is key.

It's hard to quantify how many sales you'll make. It depends on the niche and the compeition. For exampel, BizModules picked an untapped area (Videos/gallery) and ran with it. They have made a LOT of money - very clever. ActiveModules has the forum market.

Up until a little while ago, a good Google map module would have made a LOT of money - now Netism is cornering that side of things. Pick a niche area where there is a need and go for it. But keep it simple ;)

The other 2 areas you HAVE to consider - correct licensing/pricing (don't price yourself out the market - this was one of my key mistakes and the cause of the demise of Smart-Thinker as a commerical vendor) and manage your customer expectations.

Licensing/Pricing strategy would be a 10 page post. My advice would be to look at how one of the successfuly vendors do it (ActiveForums/Ifinity). Ventrian is another successful module publisher but WAY to cheap IMHO - should be at least $100 for a 6 complex mod subscription (note-  these are purely my speculations to survive).

For some reasons customers expect all change requests and features tomorrow. It's not possible. By all means take suggestions from customers but publish a simple roadmap, release early and often and keep it all flexible. Communicate as often as possible (again, time...) and set the standard early as to how you go about your business.

And lastly: I have been involved in a few markets and there is a limited period of time for one-man developers (there are always exceptions of course). For example, when the first PocketPCs came out I used to sell a game I wrote in EmbeddedVB (and later converted to .NET) - but in a year companies like EA started their own mobile games publishing business and I could not compete against teams. The level of professionalism and evolution of dev teams (as opposed to single developers) is advancing fast - I believe the days of single developers are numbered...

Feel free to prove me wrong ;) - Good luck!


Entrepreneur

PokerDIY Tournament Manager - PokerDIY Tournament Manager<
PokerDIY Game Finder - Mobile Apps powered by DNN
PokerDIY - Connecting Poker Players

 
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12/4/2009 8:26 PM
 

Thanks I was hoping to see numbers but that's OK. I was asking because DNN is open source and free so this might encourage people to expect modules to be free or cheap. I am interested to know the module market for WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.  I don't have ideas of small modules yet, maybe I should look at the other CMS markets and see what they are offering. I am a full time developer and if I developed a module, it will be done in the evenings. ActiveModules and BizModules are probably full time software housewith several developers for DNN so I won' t be able to compete the big guys and besdies I won't be doing similar products. As for video and photo galleries, SnowCovered lists many of them (HTML based, Flash and SilverLight) so maybe that market is saturated.

 

 
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12/4/2009 10:06 PM
 

Tony Hussein wrote

so I won' t be able to compete the big guys and besdies I won't be doing similar products. As for video and photo galleries, SnowCovered lists many of them (HTML based, Flash and SilverLight) so maybe that market is saturated.

 

Yes, definitely pick a niche that has the least competition... (I was giving examples of saturated sectors)


Entrepreneur

PokerDIY Tournament Manager - PokerDIY Tournament Manager<
PokerDIY Game Finder - Mobile Apps powered by DNN
PokerDIY - Connecting Poker Players

 
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12/4/2009 10:08 PM
 

Tony,
Time and again I hear that the hard part isn't putting a decent module together, but the support after the fact. There are quite a few very good module developers that have "passed away" over the years because they couldn't keep up with the support needs. Rodney infers some of that in what he just suggested to you. And maybe what he suggests is a key to minimizing the support impact.

Eric


Eric Swanzey
www.swanzey.com
 
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